CHANGEOFGEAR

Side-lined through injury, Yorkshire adventurer Geoff Major had to rethink his fundraising efforts.Down but definitely not out, he tells beyond what happened next.

For a man who has skied to the North Pole, steered a seven-seater bike 250 miles across the north of England, spent five days walking through the Sahara and rowed more than 60 miles of the River Thames, Geoff Major isn’t used to putting his feet up. So when the Yorkshire adventurer and entrepreneur suffered back problems followed by a tear to his abdominal wall and was told to he had to rest, taking it easy didn’t come naturally and it wasn’t long before he was dreaming up a brand new scheme. Determined that his own health issues weren’t going to stop his fundraising efforts, which since 2008 have seen him raise £123,000 for charity, he simply went back to the drawing board and after a conversation with fellow businessman Mark Murray he had a plan – a 24-hour non-stop karting competition at TeamSport’s Leeds circuit. That though was the easy bit.

He then had to recruit at least nine teams to cover the cost of the event, more if he wanted to generate the ambitious £6,000 target he’d set for the various charities. But Major is nothing if not persuasive and in the end teams from as far afield as Southport, Scarborough, Birmingham and Stoke joined those from Huddersfield and Leeds on the start line.“After just the first four hours, drivers recognised just what a huge challenge it was both mentally and physically,” he says. “However, this only fuelled the adventurous spirit of the drivers and the eventual winners were Richard Hill’s Iveridge Racers who completed an impressive 144 laps more than their nearest rivals.” As well as winning the trophy Richard also won a £500 cheque, to be donated to the charity of his choice.He chose Wakefield Hospice and was thrilled to be able to present the money the following week. The event raised more than £12,700 for charity and Major is already onto his next venture. A fundraising trek to Machu Picchu has been booked in for 2019 and he also hopes to complete three more team challenges this year. “Since we began this journey 10 years ago, we’ve always tried to stage events which are a little different from the norm,” he says. “It seems to be working and as for what’s next, watch this space.”